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73

Gamezilla

In all honesty, I wasn’t expecting a lot from Army Men Advance, considering the fact that the plethora of Army Men games so far have been generally disappointing. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that AMA works well and is a good bit of fun. The lack of a save game option and the sparse backgrounds bring the score down a little, but if you can cope with those problems, there is a lot to like in this action/puzzle game.

Army Men Advance is probably the most entertaining game in the series to date, with the bright cartoonish graphics and larger-than-life settings proving a perfect match for the GameBoy Advance. Unfortunately it lacks longevity, and given that GBA games are rather pricey at the moment, £35 for three hours of entertainment is perhaps a little steep.

Army Men Advance is a simple game based on simple toys, and mindlessly killing people can be cool, especially when the premise is so straightforward. But the villain here is the controls. Per usual for an AM title, I was running around frantically in order to aim properly. Holding down the R shoulder button fixes your orientation, but oftentimes you’re so surrounded by foes it's not practical. On the other hand, I wish the environments were as cluttered with scenery. There is little here that pushes the handheld's known power. Multiplayer? That's MIA.

Visually, Army Men Advance makes impressive progress for the series on portable platforms, with its rich color and design. Yet, a noticeable downside occurs during several “night” operations, as the screen becomes too dark, causing player’s to take more time to complete such levels. While this still may be a Game Boy Advance hardware issue, its result doesn’t help the game in the end. Also, Army Men Advance suffers from unpredictable collision detection. There have been several times that I have been “shot” by a bullet that has missed me, and missed by a bullet that I watched hit me.

Hath the Lord forsaken thee? As hard as it may seem to believe, Army Men Advance is actually decent. The combat is a tad cumbersome, but the animation is superb, and the environments are as colorful as can be.

Playing as either Sarge or Vikki, your banal mission is to stop the insidious Tan army from using alien technology to take over the (yawn) world. Army Men: Advance does the basics right sound effects and control but is also completely uninventive. You putz around 17 levels of bland interiors and sparse outdoor scenes with your pea-shooter like weapons collecting keys, maps, and so on, while eliminating enemies. From a top-down view, all the characters look super-deformed, and the gameplay just doesn’t go anywhere. You’d have much more fun playing with genuine plastic army men than wasting your time in this virtual ghetto while straining endlessly to obtain just the right light on the god-forsaken Game Boy Advance screen. This is for franchise fanatics only.

Army Men Advance is a run of the mill game. It offers nothing new to its series or genre. The graphics are drab and boring. The sound is almost not there at all, and the sound that is there if pitiful. The controls work well, thankfully. The gameplay is boring and very monotonous. There is almost no replay value in this title at all; it becomes incredibly stale long before you finish it. If you're a fan of the Army Men series and liked the other games, chances are you'll like Army Men Advance. If you just want a game to pick up and play, Army Men might be the choice for you, though you'd probably be better off with something else. But if you want a truly solid and awesome game, go somewhere else.

Army Men Advance perpetuates the franchise's legacy of mediocrity. Its graphics are at the bottom of the Game Boy Advance totem pole, none of the hardware's interesting features like multiplayer are utilized, and the one-player mode can be finished in one day. Kids will likely enjoy its simplicity but will find it difficult to complete several of the game's goals due to the irritating hit detection and cramped areas. With so many quality games available for the launch of the GBA, Army Men Advance should be near the bottom of your list.